With a growing concern of a total meltdown of the election system this year, we will be releasing specific details of what we find in our
State Election Readiness Survey.
We begin our research today in Nevada. After speaking to a public official from the Nevada Secretary of State office today, we find that Nevada has taken steps to increase the numbers of voting machines and polling places in the state's two largest counties.
Here are the details of those changes as outlined by the Nevada Secretary of State:
Anticipating record turnout, Nevada has increased the number of polling places and voting machines in its two population centers, and has increased opportunitiesfor early voting throughout the state, increasing voter accessibility.
More Polling Locations
Clark County:
2008: 339 Polling Locations
2004: 329 Polling Locations
Washoe County:
2008: 99 Polling Locations
2004: 92 Polling Locations
More Voting Machines
Clark County:
2008: 4,041 Machines
807,721 Registered Voters
199 Voters per Machine
2004: 2,895 Machines
684,313 Registered Voters
236 Voters per Machine
Washoe County:
2008: 1,327 Machines
231,470 Registered Voters
174 Voters per machine
2004: 1,117 Machines
233,095 Registered Voters
209 Voters per Machine
Statewide the number of voting machines has increased from 4,913 in the 2004 election to 6,888 for the 2008 election. The increase in machines has reduced the number of voters per machine statewide from 218 voters per machine in 2004
to 174 voters per machine in 2008.
The Brennan Center of Justice, in a state-by-state survey of their own, found that Nevada does need improvement in their preparedness as it relates to contingency plans in the event of an emergency. There is no state mandate requiring counties in Nevada to use emergency paper ballots in the case of machine failure.
The report gave Nevada generally good marks in other areas such as ballot reconciliation and post-election audits. For full details of the Brennan Center of Justice report,
click here.
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